December Whirlwind Leads to Early Signing Haul
The month of December has had Mark Stoops dotting the South and Midwest with stops along the recruiting trail.
Over the course of a few weeks, the Kentucky head coach made in-home visits with upwards of two dozen recruits, all in an effort to lock them up for the early signing period.
When you combine that travel with intervening phone calls, official visits, and, of course, preparations for UK’s bowl game, it’s no wonder he needed some occasional reminders about his travel itinerary.
“The pilots, sometimes I would just ask them, ‘Where am I landing?’ ” Stoops said.
Fortunately for Stoops, his pilots knew where they were going and his assistant coaches were always there waiting to pick him up. With the entire operation working in concert, UK secured Letters of Intent from 20 highly touted prospects on Wednesday morning, unveiled during a live stream aired on UKathletics.com and SEC Network +. The class is ranked No. 27 nationally according to Rivals.
“I’m very pleased with these guys, and they’ve been so solid through the process, but you never know,” Stoops said. “They’re getting pulled at. There’s guys on here that were getting poked at until last night and constantly pulled and asked to not sign and don’t sign early and come on visits and being offered scholarships yesterday or the past couple days, and these guys didn’t waver, and that’s the character we’re looking for, so we’re very pleased.”
Stoops and his staff are accustomed to the down-to-the-wire nature of recruiting, but this new December signing period was new. It’s also what led to their schedules being so chaotic over the last few weeks, but they seem to have successfully navigated everything. As of 4 p.m. on Wednesday, UK had the most signees of any SEC school.
“I’m glad to get these guys locked down because, believe me, there’s some players here that can play in an awful lot of top-five schools,” Stoops said.
The headliner of the class – because of his position, his reputation and the late-breaking nature of his recruitment – was quarterback Terry Wilson. The No. 5 overall junior-college player according to ESPN.com, Wilson spurned offers from Florida and Nebraska to come to Kentucky, where he will have three years of eligibility. Wilson accounted for 30 touchdowns for Garden City Community College, where he transferred after spending a year at Oregon out of high school.
“The beautiful thing about him was he was a joy to recruit,” Stoops said. “You know, it was very difficult. He was getting pulled a million different directions, and there was a time when things started getting very hairy where he was getting pulled from people at his junior college, from everybody, and that’s when you saw maybe some reports of when he was coming.”
Stoops was referencing a visit to UK that reportedly had been canceled in favor of a trip to see another school. When the news began to circulate, UK, according to many, was doomed. Instead, Wilson and Stoops had an honest conversation that led to the visit happening after all. By Sunday of that weekend, he had made his verbal pledge.
“He was unbelievable,” Stoops said. “You saw the maturity in him. When he talked to me, he said, I never really looked at it that way, I hear you Coach. I told him to think about a few things, and he called me back 40 minutes later, and he said, Coach, I’m coming in, I’m coming in on this date, I don’t care what anybody else says, and he came in, and it’s been a great recruiting process from that point on. He came in, had a good weekend, and he’s been a joy to recruit.”
Wilson was one of four December commitments for UK, joining defensive tackle Jerquavion Mahone, offensive lineman Kenneth Horsey and wide receiver Bryce Oliver. Oliver, one of eight signees from Florida, committed and signed Wednesday and could prove to be quite a late get according to Stoops.
“He was taking some time, taking his visits, and we felt good about it, but he came here on campus, had a great visit, and we were obviously extremely pleased when we got that commitment because I believe he’s a big-time player, and he’s going to be a difference maker,” Stoops said. “He plays exceptionally strong. He’s very mature. He’s all business, tremendous basketball player, so a very good athlete. We’re very happy with him.”
The bulk of UK’s class, however, has been in place since before the start of the 2017.
Per usual, it includes talent from Stoops and Vince Marrow’s native Ohio in the form of 6-foot-7, 336-pound offensive lineman Darian Kinnard; tight ends Brenden Bates and Keaton Upshaw; and offensive lineman Quintin Wilson. There are a pair of players from Georgia in Mahone and running back Christopher Rodriguez, plus junior-college cornerback in Domonique Williams, a kicker from South Carolina in Chance Poore, and a punter, Max Duffy, who formerly played professional Australian football.
The final two pieces of the puzzle come from new territory for Kentucky: Michigan. Defensive backs Steve Clinkscale was the lead recruiter in landing safety DeAndre Square, a Detroit native, and Marquan McCall, UK’s highest-rated signee. McCall is the top-ranked player in the state the No. 135 overall player nationally according to 247Sports, with most outlets listing him as an offensive lineman. UK, however, appears poised to play the 6-foot-3, 350-pound four-star prospect on the defensive line.
Regardless where he ends up playing, McCall is exactly the kind of player UK is looking for. There are a bunch of those in this class.
“I know the 20 guys that signed today are big-time players,” Marrow said. “We had schools tugging at them guys last night. I was up till about 12:30 a.m. last night had to be up again at 6 a.m. for the recruiting thing. We want guys that want to be here. That’s point blank. We want guys that want to be here.”
With 20 signed, sealed and delivered in December, the attention now shifts to signing day in February. Unlike in past years, UK will have the lion’s share of its class done before then, meaning Stoops, Marrow and co. can train their focus on a select group.
“I love that,” Marrow said. “Let me just say this: You know how we recruit so now you’re saying we’ve only got to zero in on four or five guys. I like that. I like our odds.”
